Screen door for sliding glass doors



111B" 13,, 196 H. D. JONES, JR 3,293,392

SCREEN noon FOR smvme GLASS moons Original Filed April 2, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 D. Jones, Jr.

Dec, 13, 1966 H. D. JONES, JR 3,291,192

SCREEN DOOR FOR SLIDING GLASS DOORS Original Filed April 2, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent Ofiice 3,291,192 Patented Dec. 13, 1866 3,291,192 SQREEN DGGR FOR SLlDlNG GLASS DOORS Harold D. Jones, .Ir., Newton, Hopkins, .Iones 8; @rrnshy, 711 Candler Bldg, Atlanta, Ga. Continuation of application Ser. No. 184,193, Apr. 2, 1962. This application May 14, 1965, Ser. No.

6 Claims. (Cl. 161l91) This application is a continuation of my prior application, Serial No. 184,193, filed April 2, 1962, entitled Screen Door for Sliding Glass Doors, now abandoned.

This invention relates to the combination of a pivotally movable, swinging screen door with conventional sliding glass doors, together with means for the pivotal mounting of the screen door, the pivotal mounting means being amenable to slidable mounting in the usual screen door trackways of conventional sliding glass door assemblies.

Sliding glass doors, in which each glass-paneled door frame is independently mounted for relative sliding motion in parallel trackways, have long been provided with a similarly mounted, companion slidable screen doors. Such conventional combinations of sliding glass doors and sliding screen doors are effective and eflicient and have long since achieved substantial commercial success.

However, with such arrangements difficulty has arisen,

particularly when frequent ingress and egress is required. Conventionally, the structure of the screen door itself is of light construction and is slidably mounted between its upper and lower horizontal guide tracks without benefit of antifriction rollers, since frequent sliding motion for repeated ingress and egress is not usually contemplated. Hence, in frequent use, the light construction of the screen frame and the simple frictional mounting of its edges upon its guide track results in disengagement of the frame from its track, as well as disalignment of the frame whereby its freedom of sliding motion in its track is disrupted. The application of force in reengaging the frame of the screen with its tracks, or in realignment of the frame, often distorts and frequently damages the frame.

A further difiiculty arising in the use of such slidable screen doors with glass door combinations is that a positive and thoughtful return of the screen after ingress or egress is required. Such return movement of the sliding screen to its closed position after entry or departure is often overlooked. Such failure to return the screen to its enclosing position is most frequent where the entry or exit is by children. Further, childishly clumsy maneuvering of the screen frequently results in dislocation and distortion of the frame of the screen.

The primary concern of the present invention is the provision of a screen arrangement for sliding glass doors whereby frequent ingress and egress may be obtained, and means by which the screen will automatically return to its enclosing position after entry or departure of a person through the normally screen-enclosed entry.

In general terms, the present embodiment of the inventive concept may be defined as providing slidable hinge means readily engageable with, and preferably slidable on, the normal tracks or runners of the usual screen of a sliding glass door combination whereby a screen door is mounted for pivotal movement about a vertical axis with respect to the sliding glass doors. Thus, the hinge means of the present invent-ion provides for the pivotal support of a screen door, and means whereby the screen door can be readily positioned at any selected opening that may be formed by various positions of the glass doors. A further important feature of the invention is that, in addition to the provision of a pivoted screen door for the sliding glass door assembly, provision is made for the automatic closing of the screen door after use so that the opening formed by the particular position of the glass panels will not remain unscreened through inadvertence, accident or mistake of the user. It is also to be noted that the pivotal movement of the doors is easily accomplished without requiring frictional sliding movement of the door of its hinge support on the tracks or guides. Such arrangement eliminates the usual hazards of dislocation of the door or disalignment of the frame structure. Since the screen door of the present invention freely and automatically returns to its closed position, repeated use by neglectful persons does not lead to failure of the screen in performing its desired function of guarding the opening from entry of insects or the Like. Since the screen door may be readily locked by conventional means, unauthorized entry may be precluded.

Numerous other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the consideration of the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a room illustrating the present combination of sliding glass doors and a pivoted screen door;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing the glass doors in fully closed position with the screen door moved to one side;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 2 showing the glass doors moved to partially overlapping position, and with the screen door to the right of the opening;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the screen in position with its vertical axis to the left of the opening formed by the partially overlapping position of the glasspaneled doors;

FIG. 5 is a detailed vertical section showing the assembled hinge construction of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a detailed perspective view of the vertical hinge post of the present construction with the screen door frame mounting arms, and spring closure projection, in position;

FIG. 7 is a detailed side elevation of the upper screen door mounting element of the hinge;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the upper track engaging bracket;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the intermediate spring abutment plate of the upper track engaging assembly;

FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along the line 11-11 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the lower track engaging bracket and the spring housing; and,

FIG. 13 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the line 1313 of FIG. 12.

In the drawings, FIG. 1 presents a conventional arrangement in a door framing wall 111 of inner and outer sliding glass-paneled doors 11 and 12 respectively. The frames 13 and 14 of the glass doors 11 and 12 respectively are mounted for sliding movement in their upper and lower horizontal tracks 15a, 15b and 16a, 16b respectively within the door frame defined by the wall 10. It is to be understood that the present invention is not concerned with the type and structure of the sliding glass doors per se, their frames, their tracks or their antifriction mountings. It will be understood, however, that the tracks of the inner and outer doors 11 and 12 upon which the frames are secured for independent relative motion, usually through rollers or equivalent antifriction means, are horizontal and parallel. It will be further understood that the sliding glass doors may be moved from partially overlapping position as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 to coextensive position as shown in FIG. 2 to close the door opening of the wall 10. In partial overlapping position, as indicated in FIGS. 2 and 3, an opening at the right of the doorway is provided for the ingress and egress of persons. An opening may, however, be provided at the left. The apparatus of the present invention provides for the pivoting of the screen door as a closure for such opening either at the right, adjacent the right hand edge of the door opening, or at the left, as in FIG. 4, adjacent the edge of the outermost glass door. It is to be noted further that, by virtue of the slidable mounting of the screen door hinges, a left side opening may be equally well provided by the present pivoted screen door.

In combination with the inner and outer door tracks and 16 of the glass doors 11 and 12 respectively, there are provided, in accordance with conventional arrangements, outer upper and lower screen tracks 18 and 19 respectively. As in conventional construction; the tracks 18 and 19 are shown as inwardly extending, longitudinal flanges. It will of course be understood that the present disclosure is by way of illustration only and specific constructions of tracks or guideways may vary to accommodate diifering innerfitting constructions of the glass and screen doors.

The screen door of the present invention comprises a generally conventional rectangular frame encompassing a generally vertical, rectangular fabric screen 20. The frame is bounded by a vertical inner hinge rail 21 and an outer, vertical free rail, together with upper and lower horizontal rails 24 and 25 respectively. The total width of the screen door including its frame is of course variable in accordance with the desired width of the opening to be formed by the positions of the glass doors. The total height of the door, however, is determined by the vertical height of the opening formed by the wall 10 and is preferably of a height equal to the distance between the bases of the tracks 15, 16, 18 and 19 so that, in closed position, the screen door will fully conform with the opening formed by the positions of the doors. At their inner ends, the horizontal rails 24 and 25 are recessed as at 28 and 29 to receive therein upper and lower screen door mounting arms 30 and 31 respectively.

For slidably mounting the screen door assembly, there are provided upper and lower screen track engaging brackets 32 and 34 respectively (see FIGS. 9 and 12) mounting therebetween, for slidable movement therewith, a tubular, vertical hinge post 35 As is seen in FIG. 5, the upper end of the hinge post 35 is fitted with the upper track engaging bracket 32. As is seen in FIG. 9, the bracket 32 is formed with a cylindrical bearing boss 36, the boss 36 being rotatably receivable in the open upper end of the tubular post 35. The upper track engaging bracket 32 further includes a top plate 38 on the boss 36, the plate 38 being formed with a depending, upwardly open track shoe 39 to receive, and slide with respect to, the upper screen track 18.

The upper end of the hinge post 35 is also fitted with an internal, hollow, cylindrical cup 40 of an upper mounting element 41 (see FIGS. 7 and 8) from which extends a protruding frame engaging arm. The vertical flight 42 of the arm extends above the cup 40 and terminates in an outer, horizontal mounting arm 30 which is received within the upper, inwardly extending recess 28 at the upper rail 24 of the screen door frame. To accommodate the vertical flight 42 of the upper mounting ele ment 41, the side of the upper end of the hinge post 35 is recessed as at 45, shown in FIG. 6.

For retaining the upper mounting element 41 within the end of the hinge post 35, and the upper track engaging element 32 for releasible engagement with the track 18, there is provided an intermediate spring abutment plate 46 which is vertically adjustable within the upper end of the hinge post 35 above the cup 40 and below the boss 36. The spring abutment plate 46 is secured in adjusted position by a set screw 46 in an elongated aperture 49 in the side of the hinge post 35. For urging the cup 40 downwardly in the post 35, hence the arm 44 in the recess 28, a spring 50 bears downwardly against the inner face of the cup. The upper end of the spring 50 bears upwardly against the underface of the intermediate spring abutment plate 46. For yieldably urging the track engaging bracket 32 toward the track 18, there is provided an upper spring 52 which bears against the upper face of the intermediate spring abutment plate 46 and the inner end 54 of the internal cavity 55 of the boss 36. It will be seen that the upper and lower faces of the spring abutment plate 46 are recessed to receive, and to secure against accidental displacement of, the inner ends of both the springs 50 and 52.

At the lower end of the hinge post 35 there is fitted the cylindrical boss 60 of the lower track engaging bracket 34. For allowing slidable movement with respect to the lower screen door tracks 19, the bracket 34 is formed with downwardly open, U-shaped, straight track receiving portion 61. The slot 62 receives the track 19. For normally urging the screen door toward closed position, i.e. parallel with the planes of the glass doors, the bracket 60 is also provided with an arcuate hollow extension 64, arcuate interior chamber 65 of which receives a coiled spring 68. The outer free end 69 of the coil 68 is engaged by a spring closure which projects from the lower end of the hinge post 35 and through the chamber 65 in the inner wall of the extension 64. In this manner, the spring closure coil 68 biases the hinge post 35 toward clockwise movement for closing the screen door towards parallelism with the glass doors. The lower frame mounting arm 31 is fixed to, and extends from, the hinge post to be received within the recess 29 of the lower horizontal door frame rail 25.

It will be seen from FIGS. 9 and 12 that the bosses 36 and 60 for the upper and lower ends of the hinge post 35 are off-set from the channels 39 and 62 that receive the tracks 18 and 19, therefore the hinge post 35 is offset from the tracks 18 and 19 to allow the screen door to be in a different plane from that of the tracks 18 and 19, though parallel to the plane of the glass doors 11 and 12.

By this construction it will be seen that the screen door and frame may be easily removed and replaced by a simple outward and inward bodily movement of the door with respect to the hinge post 35, since the frame mounting arms 30 and 31 are slidably receivable in their conforming recesses 28 and 29 of the horizontal screen door frame rails 24 and 25. It will of course be noted that the spring 50 will normally retain the arms in their recesses against inadvertent displacement. Thus, cleaning and/or repairing of the screen door is facilitated. The screen door assembly may also be readily removed and replaced as a unit. From the construction described, it will be noted that the upper spring 52 not only urges the upper track engaging bracket 32 into seated position with respect to track 18, but also, by its reacting force against the spring abutment plate 46, maintains spring tension on the lower track engaging bracket 34 to yieldably retain the bracket 32 against the track 19. A simple compression force applied to the springs 52 will therefore release the brackets from, or permit assembly of the brackets with their tracks. It will also be noted that the arcuate spring 68 will act to permit freedom of outward pivotal movement of the door, but will insure automatic return thereof.

The reversibility of posts is also an important feature of the invention. The upper and lower track engaging brackets 32 and 34 may be reversed if desired; and, by an inversion, the screen door may be mounted for pivotal movement to open from the right as in FIGS. 1 and 4 or from the left as in FIG. 3. The present mounting also provides ease in disposing the door in a position of non-use to the left as in FIG. 2 when the glass doors are fully closed.

It is recognized that the plane of the hinged screen door in its various locations is transversely spaced from the glass of the sliding glass doors; therefore, if desired, a seal may be provided for the hinge post 35, as is shown in FIGS. 5 and 11. Such seal is preferably in the form of a narrow, vertical screen strip 80 within a frame 81 and secured to the vertical hinge post 35 as seen in FIG. 11. It will be understood of course that, in closed position of the screen door, the strip 80 will extend laterally with respect thereto to seal any space formed between the plane of the glass and the plane of the pivoted door.

While the primary concept of the present invention is concerned with the provision of a pivoted, self closing screen door in combination with sliding glass doors, it is to be noted that the specific structure of the door mounting means and the slidable mounting track brackets are of themselves novel and constitute simple, effective and eificient means well within the scope of economic manufacture. -However, in the practice of the invention, it will be understood that numerous changes and modifications may be made, and the full use of equivalents may be restored to, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a doorway enclosure having a plurality of slidable closure elements mounted between upper and lower tracks and slidably movable independently of each other in parallel planes of motion, a selectively slidable and pivotable closure element mounted between said upper and lower tracks, said selectively slidable and pivotable closure elements being pivoted on upper and lower track grips each having a track engaging groove for slidably receiving one of said tracks, and said selectively slidable and pivotable closure element being slidably movable in a plane of motion substantially parallel to said planes of motion of said other slidable closure elements and pivotably movable independently of its slidable motion about an axis laterally displaced from said tracks so as to afford an unobstructed opening when pivoted away from a closed position.

2. In a doorway having a plurality of parallel top tracks along the top of the doorway and a plurality of parallel bottom tracks along the bottom of the doorway, said top tracks and said bottom tracks being parallel and in the same vertical plane and at least one sliding glass door mounted between one parallel pair of top and bottom tracks, the combination therewith of an upper track grip and a lower track grip, said upper track grip having a track engaging portion slidably engaging one of said top tracks and a downwardly extending projection adjacent said upper track engaging portion, said lower track grip having a track engaging portion slidably engaging one of said bottom tracks and an upwardly extending projection adjacent said lower track engaging portion, said downwardly extending projection and said upwardly extending projection being axially aligned, a hinge post received between said downwardly arid upwardly extending projections axially aligned with :both said projections, and a screen door detachably mounted on said hinge post.

3. In a doorway having a plurality of top tracks along the top of the doorway and a plurality of bottom tracks along the bottom of the doorway, said top tracks and said bottom tracks being parallel and in the same vertical plane, and at least one sliding glass door between one parallel pair of top and bottom tracks, the combination therewith of: an upper track grip and a lower track grip, said upper track grip including a track engaging portion slidably engaged with one of said top tracks and a downwardly extending projection adjacent said track engaging portion, said lower track grip including a track engaging portion slidably engaged with one of said bottom track and an upwardly extending projection adjacent said track engaging portion, said downwardly extending projection and said upwardly extending projection being axially aligned; a hinge post received between both said projections and axially aligned therewith, means to urge said downwardly extending projection upwardly, axially of said hinge post, an upper arm extending horizontally from said hinge post, a lower arm extending horizontally from said hinge post, said lower arm being parallel to said upper arm, a screen door detachably supported between said upper and lower arms, spring means to urge said screen door in one angular direction, said door being freely rotatable in a direction opposite to said one angular direction and at least one glass door slidably mounted between another upper and lower pair of tracks.

4. An apparatus for the slidable and pivotal positioning of a screen door with respect to a plurality of sliding glass doors positioned in parallel planes in a frame, said screen door having a groove in its top edge and a groove in its bottom edge and said frame having a top surface and a bottom surface, comprising in combination, a rotatable hinge post with an upper end and a lower end extending between and slidably mounted with respect to the top surface and the bottom surface of the frame with its center line parallel to the planes of the sliding glass doors; a lower screen support extending from the lower end of the hinge post along a line perpendicular to and passing through the center line of the hinge post and having a cross section and an extending length of sufficient magnitude to engage a portion of the groove in the bottom edge of the screen door; and an upper screen support extending from the upper end of the hinge post along a line perpendicular to the center line of the hinge post and in the same plane as the line along which the lower screen support extends and as the center line of the hinge post, said upper screen support having a cross section and an extending length of sufiicient magnitude to engage a portion of the groove in the top edge of the screen support.

5. An apparatus for the slidable and pivotal positioning of a screen door with respect to a plurality of sliding glass doors positioned in parallel planes in individual frames within a doorway, the screen door frame having a groove in its top edge and a groove in its bottom edge and said doorway having a top surface and a bottom surface comprising, in combination, a rotatable hinge post for said screen door frame with an upper end and a lower end and extending between and slidably mounted with respect to the top surface and the bottom surface of the doorway with its center line parallel to the planes of the sliding glass doors; a lower screen support extending from the lower end of the hinge post along a line perpendicular to and passing through the center line of the hinge post and having a cross-section and an extending length of sutficient magnitude to slidably engage a portion of the groove in the bottom edge of the screen door frame; an upper screen support extending from the upper end of the hinge post along a'line perpendicular to the center line of the hinge post and in the same plane as the line along which the lower screen support extends and as the center line of the hinge post, said upper screen support having a cross-section and an extending length of sutficient magnitude to slidably engage a portion of the groove in the top edge of the door frame; and spring means responsive to rotation of the hinge post for urging the hinge post in a rotational direction towards parallelism with said sliding glass doors.

6. An apparatus for positioning a screen door with respect to sliding doors positioned in parallel planes in a frame, said screen door having a groove in its top edge and a groove in its bottom edge and said frame having an upper track extending from its top surface and a lower track extending from its bottom surface with both of said tracks being in a plane parallel to the parallel planes of the sliding doors, comprising, in combination, a hollow hinge post with upper and lower ends and a center line coinciding with a line extending parallel to the planes of the sliding doors between the top surface and bottom surface of the frame, said hinge post having a slot through its side extending from its top edge along a portion of its length and a slit in its upper portion extending through its side along a portion of its length; a lower screen support fixedly attached to the lower end of the hinge post, said lower screen support extending along a center line perpendicular to and passing through the center line of the hinge post and having a cross section and an extending length of sufficient magnitude to engage a portion of the groove in the bottom edge of the screen door; a, movable upper screen support with one end adjacent to the hinge post, said upper screen support extending from the end adjacent to the hinge post along a center line perpendicular to the center line of the hinge post and in the same plane as the center line of the hinge post and the center line of the lower screen support and having a cross section and an extending length of sufficient magnitude to engage a portion of the groove in the top edge of the screen door; a cup positioned in the upper end of the hinge post with its open end uppermost, said cup having a diameter which just permits slidable motion within the hinge post and a length which is sufficiently great to prevent it from sub stantially twisting in the hinge post; an extension extending in the slot of the hinge post between the cup and the end of the upper screen support adjacent to the hinge post; an upper track grip having a peg with its lower end inserted into the upper end of the hinge post and having a hollow channel which has a cross-section similar to the cross-section of the upper track, the center line of said channel and the center line of said peg being separated by a distance equal to one-half the thickness of said upper track and one-half the thickness of the screen door; a spring plate with a side and positioned between the cup and the peg of the upper track grip with it fiat surface perpendicular to the center line of the hinge post; a set screw extending through the slit in the upper portion of the hinge post and into the side of the spring plate; an upper spring positioned in the hinge post between the spring plate and the peg of the upper track grip; a lower spring positioned within the hinge post between the cup and the spring plate; a lower track grip having a peg with its upper end inserted into the lower end of the hinge post and having a hollow channel with a cross-section similar to the cross-section of the lower track, the center line of said channel and the center line of said peg being separated by a distance equal to one-half the thickness of said lower track and one-half the thickness of the screen door; a spring compressor fixedly extending from the lower end of the hinge post; a spring housing fixedly associated with the lower track grip and extending in a generally circular direction around the hinge post, said spring housing having an access slot in that surface generally parallel to the surface of the hinge post with said access slot extending in a plane perpendicular to the center line of the hinge post and being positioned with respect to the length of the hinge post so that its position corresponds with the position of the spring compressor along the length of the hinge post; a positioning spring in the spring housing and having one end which is engaged by the spring compressor as the spring compressor moves in the slot in the spring housing, said end being partially rounded on its edge so as not to bind against the spring housing as it moves; a screen extending between the upper track grip and the lower track grip between the hinge post and a line extending between those portions of the upper track grip and the lower track grip most remote from the center line of the hinge post.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 451,631 5/1891 Bishop 160358 1,354,196 9/1920 Kalton 16-72 1,588,529 6/1926 Cranshaw 160229 2,539,345 1/1951 Creech 2019 X 2,853,747 9/1958 Anderson 20-16 2,950,756 8/1960 Moloney 16091 3,060,521 10/1962 Greco l359 X 3,168,355 2/1965 Rudolph 2019 X HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner.

P. C. KANNAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A DOORWAY ENCLOSURE HAVING A PLURALITY OF SLIDABLE CLOSURE ELEMENTS MOUNTED BETWEEN UPPER AND LOWER TRACKS AND SLIDABLY MOVABLE INDEPENDENTLY OF EACH OTHER IN PARALLEL PLANES OF MOTION, A SELECTIVELY SLIDABLE AND PIVOTABLE CLOSURE ELEMENT MOUNTED BETWEEN SAID UPPER AND LOWER TRACKS, SAID SELECTIVELY SLIDABLE AND PIVOTABLE CLOSURE ELEMENTS BEING PIVOTED ON UPPER AND LOWER TRACK GRIPS EACH HAVING A TRACK ENGAGING GROOVE FOR SLIDABLY RECEIVING ONE OF SAID TRACKS, AND SAID SELECTIVELY SLIDABLE 